Is There Anything On The Show That You Think Is Better Than The Books?

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Whenever a book is adapted to the screen (t.v. and/or movie screen), the book is almost always going to remain better if for no other reason than b/c of time limitations that make it virtually impossible to fully adapt with the same level of detail as a book has.

Now, I have a strong impression that the general consensus among book readers would be that most changes D&D have made for the show are bad, and that most people would have preferred they just more taithfully follow the books (think of all seasons done the way Season One was, but without all the Ros scenes, which would have been about 98 percent faithful to AGOT, I think)

But is there anything in the show you like better than the books???

For me, two things come immediately to mind that I like better in the show: The expanded role of Bronn, and the scene where Brienne and Pod met Arya and Sandor, and Brienne and Sandor fought (there are probably a few other things I like better in the show, too, but the two I mentioned occurred to me first)

Make no mistake, though, overall, I'm in the camp that would say most changes were for the worse, but I still love the show (just not quite as much as the books)

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Bronn immediately comes to mind I don't think anybody is gonna debate on this point.

I also did think that aging the characters up made sense and was necessary. Having a 14-15 year old Dany being essentially raped by a 30+ Khal Drogo would of turned a lot people off immediately so it made sense to age the characters up.

Expecting an adaption to be completely 100% faithful is just wishful thinking this is never gonna be the case with any source material. Books and Film may both be forms of entertainment but they are two separate beasts.

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She is far more complex, more subtle and more relatable than in the books. In short she is far more interesting and Lena Headey has a huge part in it.

Tywin

His show only scenes with Jaime and Arya were awesome. Charles Dance!

Sansa's story

I prefer Sansa's show story to her book story - so far since I am quite sure that she will get more into the center of attention in the books as well. I guess she will have some ugly experiences in the books too, Martin won't spare her, no more than any other character. Sansa won't go on organizing parties, her book story will be as interesting and as gruesome as her show story already is.

Margaery

Natalie Dormer's grown up, clever and sexy Margaery was great.

Hardhome and the battle of the bastards.

I generally prefer that the young characters are older in the show.

I like it that they presented Daenerys' wedding night as what it was: rape. Here Martin in my eyes did a misstep: A frightened and shy thirteen year old girl getting aroused by a guy who gropes her when she has no choice in It - that is a juicy fantasy for those who love scenarios where virginal girls are "introduced" by a superior aand strong male. Wet dream as long as it stays a fantasy. But In reality a scenario like that is rape and abuse. Now back then when Martin wrote the books we were not aware as much as today of children forcibly married, women enslaved by terrorists etc. Today Martin might decide to do the scene differently and I am glad that the show did, given the present political situation. Otherwise I would call it rape apology. Be aware that I am not against showing atrocities within a timesetting like that as long as they are presented as atrocities. Shireen's burning was certainly the cruelest of all and it will probably happen in the books as well.

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Now back then when Martin wrote the books we were not aware as much as today of children forcibly married, women enslaved by terrorists etc.

mid nineties really weren't the "dark ages". Child soldiers and child brides were a known humanistic issues. We're talking post-Ruanda. UN humanity right charters existed for decades, so does Human Rights Watch, and other humanistic organisations.

To answer OP: aging up the characters in general.

ETA: I'm quite certain that George would still write it the way he wrote it, except for aging up Dany (he said that he would age up the characters if he could). While it's statuory rape, I wouldn't call it a fantasy too quickly either. George has said that he won't write a POV character being raped (as in non-consentual, whatever the age, meaning the victim explicitly saying "no"). And I think he's wise not to do so. It would imply he would have to write the experience of it in a POV as well as the aftermath-trauma, which would at this point in the series heavily detract from the character arcs in a manner that would have heavy implications for his endgame goals. And as a male author writing such an experience for a female character (no matter how well he could write it), it would have female support groups scrutinizing all of those chapters. He wrote a trauma victim: Theon, who was tortured. He never even wrote the actual torture chapters. He only wrote the aftermath trauma which took a whole book and which imo will haunt all of Theon's future arc. If George intended to have a POV character raped, he would have done so in earlier books, to allow himself the story room for the character to integrate the trauma. The show doesn't do POV, and thought they could do it without repercussions, but they had to send actors and a crying aid-author to defend the choice and write a very nonsensical S6 as "women on top" and "rape/revenge".

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She is far more complex, more subtle and more relatable than in the books. In short she is far more interesting and Lena Headey has a huge part in it.

Tywin

His show only scenes with Jaime and Arya were awesome. Charles Dance!

Sansa's story

I prefer Sansa's show story to her book story - so far since I am quite sure that she will get more into the center of attention in the books as well. I guess she will have some ugly experiences in the books too, Martin won't spare her, no more than any other character. Sansa won't go on organizing parties, her book story will be as interesting and as gruesome as her show story already is.

Margaery

Natalie Dormer's grown up, clever and sexy Margaery was great.

Hardhome and the battle of the bastards.

I generally prefer that the young characters are older in the show.

I like it that they presented Daenerys' wedding night as what it was: rape. Here Martin in my eyes did a misstep: A frightened and shy thirteen year old girl getting aroused by a guy who gropes her when she has no choice in It - that is a juicy fantasy for those who love scenarios where virginal girls are "introduced" by a superior aand strong male. Wet dream as long as it stays a fantasy. But In reality a scenario like that is rape and abuse. Now back then when Martin wrote the books we were not aware as much as today of children forcibly married, women enslaved by terrorists etc. Today Martin might decide to do the scene differently and I am glad that the show did, given the present political situation. Otherwise I would call it rape apology. Be aware that I am not against showing atrocities within a timesetting like that as long as they are presented as atrocities. Shireen's burning was certainly the cruelest of all and it will probably happen in the books as well.

KFC Inn

Show Shae

Tyrion and Dany have met!

Wow, that's a great list of things to think about and consider, I read it all with interest.

In fact, I'm curious whether you actually prefer the show to the books (if so, nothing wrong with that). Or were the books ,on balance, what you ultimately preferred more?

Margaery Tyrell 100%. In the books she is just a little girl. In the show she is one of my favourite characters. Having her older, smart, sexy and manipulative was a great decision.

As said aging up the characters in general.

Replacing Roose Bolton in Harrenhall with Tywin

Tywin in general actually. I think that is more to do with Charles Dance's portrayal than anything else though

Keeping the Hound and Arya together longer.

A lot of people may disagree but I preferred having Talisa at the wedding and getting stabbed as well.

Sending Jon to Hardhome and properly seeing what happened there.

Cutting out Penny and getting Tyrion to Daenerys quicker in general.

I do think the show does not get enough credit for some of its positive changes. Saying that there is many changes/omissions I completely disagree on and they make me angry thinking about them.

I agree with all of that except the Talisa and Penny stuff.

I like how Robb's line can continue in the books (cuz Jeyne didn't die), and frankly I've always thought the show missed a great opportunity to show how Robb and Jeyne met and fell in love (since it all happened "offstage" in the books, and we only learned about it after the fact)

I liked Penny in the books, too (not that leaving her out of the show will probably make much difference in the end, though. I understand she is a very minor character)

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jorah but I'm biased because it's Iain Glen who portrays him and Tywin and Marg.

battles. While I love them in the books visual effects are awesome (and combining the two battles in s4) . however I miss some battles from the books such as Asha's in Dance.

I used to prefer the show version of LF (until s4) when he became the most stupid villain anyone could have been

cinematography in general but especially regarding the use of music with some scenes. There are many examples of that such as arya's needle music; "goodbye brother" track or "Dance of dragons" track. That is something books don't have and the show has used very well.

some invented quotes. On the other Hand I miss a Lot of them from the books as well.

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I liked how Roose was played up as a harsh but loyal adviser to Robb in his introduction making his betrayal at the RW more shocking unlike the books were George made it obvious he was trouble from the start

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jorah but I'm biased because it's Iain Glen who portrays him and Tywin and Marg.

battles. While I love them in the books visual effects are awesome (and combining the two battles in s4) . however I miss some battles from the books such as Asha's in Dance.

I used to prefer the show version of LF (until s4) when he became the most stupid villain anyone could have been

cinematography in general but especially regarding the use of music with some scenes. There are many examples of that such as arya's needle music; "goodbye brother" track or "Dance of dragons" track. That is something books don't have and the show has used very well.

some invented quotes. On the other Hand I miss a Lot of them from the books as well.

Good stuff.

Yeah, I hadn't consciously thought about it, but some things are better just b/c it's a different medium, and we can see visual effects, hear sound, have music, et cetera.

Regarding the music, I especially love the music they play when Dany's dragons attack. I'm not sure if that's the Dance of Dragons track you're referring to, but I love it, especially that first part. ALSO, my absolute favorite music of the entire series is at the very end of Season 4 when Arya is alone on the horse, then on the ship sailing to Braavos. Do you, or does anybody here, know what that music is called? WOW, I'm awestruck every time I hear it, right from the very first time (It's the "menu music" on the Season 4 Blu-Ray discs, and I'm really glad they chose it, I got to hear it and enjoy it every time I put one of those discs in)

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I liked how Roose was played up as a harsh but loyal adviser to Robb in his introduction making his betrayal at the RW more shocking unlike the books were George made it obvious he was trouble from the start

Good catch, that's a pretty subtle distinction between the books and show, and I admit I missed it.